Which character in a shell prompt indicates that the shell is running with root privileges?

In a shell prompt, the character that indicates the shell is running with root privileges is the hash symbol (#). When a user is logged in as the root user or has elevated privileges, the prompt typically ends with this character. It serves as a visual cue that the user has administrative power over the system, which is crucial because commands run with these privileges can impact system configurations and user permissions.

In contrast, the dollar sign ($) denotes a standard user prompt, suggesting that the commands executed will be limited by the permissions of the non-root user. The exclamation mark (!) has no specific role in this context and is not used as a prompt character, while the tilde (~) symbolizes a user's home directory rather than indicating privilege levels. Thus, recognizing the meaning of these symbols is essential for understanding the context of command execution in a Linux environment.